The UT Libraries welcomes three new librarians: Diversity Librarian Residents Rabia Gibbs and Kynita Stringer-Stanback and our new Archivist, Alesha Shumar.

Rabia Gibbs and Kynita Stringer-Stanback will be our fourth team of Diversity Librarian Residents, a program initiated in 2002. During a two-year internship, residents have the opportunity to work in several areas of the library and take part in a variety of initiatives and projects.

Gibbs received her masters of library and information science from the University of Pittsburgh in 2009. While at Pittsburgh she worked with the university archives on the City Photographer digitization project, and participated in outreach to new applicants and student organizations. She has a particular interest in archival and digital initiatives. Gibbs has been a teacher and a frequent library volunteer.

Stringer-Stanback is a 2009 graduate in library science from the University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill. She has worked in academic and public libraries, in both technical and public services. A fluent Spanish speaker, she has taught and studied in Latin America. She arrived in Knoxville with numerous ideas for outreach to underserved communities.

The Diversity Librarian Residency program attracts recent library school graduates to a challenging career in academic librarianship. Residents gain rich and varied work experiences at UT, while advancing the Libraries’ and University’s diversity goals.

Our new Archivist, Alesha Shumar, comes to UT from her position as Helen Clay Frick Foundation Archivist at the University of Pittsburgh. The Frick Foundation Archives contains materials relating to coal and steel magnate Henry Clay Frick, whose fortune funded the Frick Art Museum in Pittsburgh and New York’s famous Frick Collection of art. Shumar earned a masters of library and information science from the University of Pittsburgh in 2008. At UT she will acquire, preserve, and provide research access to the archives that document the history and scholarship of the university.